


Still Owe Him

by TheGreatCatsby



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 02:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3341087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Serpent was the first thing that had opened Haise's mind up to his past, and he was going to find out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Owe Him

**Author's Note:**

> AU where Haise goes looking for info.

Something snapped in his head when Haise ripped off the ghoul's mask. 

The other man lay on the ground, bleeding from a gaping hole in his middle, hood fallen back, staring up at him with a face familiar save for one scar across his left eye. 

“Kaneki,” the man said. He coughed blood, gave him a strange, sad smile. “'I'll die,' right?” 

“Senpai,” Haise whispered, and something in his mind shifted. A name. Nishiki. The smell of coffee. A blond man at Nishiki's feet, bleeding. A woman tied up on an altar. 

“Sorry,” said Nishiki, not sounding sorry at all. Not for this. 

Then, everything went black. 

*

“We're calling off the search for the ghoul Serpent,” Akira told him. 

“Why?” 

“There's more important things to do,” Akira said, but there was something about how she looked away too quickly that bothered him. 

He suspected it was because he lost control. And it happened when he'd encountered Serpent. 

But Serpent held the key to his past memories. Serpent was the first thing that had opened up his mind to the past. 

Haise wasn't sure if he wanted to open that door. But if he waited too long, he would lose the opportunity. Because the name was still in his mind, even as everything else about that night was fast becoming background noise. 

Later that night, he went into the CCG database and searched for Nishio, Nishiki. There was nothing about him being a ghoul. There was, however, a brief file on him that had him listed as a student at Kamii University. 

Kamii struck a chord with him, too. But there was nothing else on Nishiki, not even an address where he lived. Which was frustrating. He went back to the file they had on Serpent and read through it, but it revealed nothing new. 

Nishiki had been targeting Torso. But Torso had probably taken the opportunity of their failed capture to escape. And Nishiki had been injured. 

Haise decided it was time to do some field work. 

*

As it turned out, going around in disguise and asking ghouls if they'd heard of an injured ghoul that had holed up anywhere wasn't the best of plans. Many were suspicious. Haise had come up with the excuse that he wanted to bring food to this ghoul, who couldn't hunt, but that wasn't really a good story. Still, he found success, when a silver-haired ghoul overheard him talking to two others and beckoned him over. 

“You are looking for Serpent?” he asked. He was young, for someone with his hair color. 

Haise nodded. “Do you know where to find him?” 

“He's being taken care of,” the other ghoul said. Haise felt like he was being taken apart by the other man's stare, though he wasn't sure why. 

“Can I see him?” Haise asked. 

The other man sighed. “I don't think it's a good idea. But,” he added, just as Haise was about to tell the man thanks for his time, “he does. I will bring you to him.” He turned and started walking, and Haise decided to follow. 

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The ghoul kept glancing sideways at him, and Haise thought of escape plans in case this was a trap. 

They ended up in an isolated part of the city, full of huge empty storage containers. The ghoul opened one of them and gestured for Haise to step inside. 

“Um,” Haise said. 

“You've trusted me this far,” the ghoul said. 

Haise stepped inside. 

The other end of the container was lit with several lamps, lending the place a soft glow that was almost comforting. A mattress had been placed on the floor, with blankets. Books were piled around. And sitting on the bed, braced against the far wall, was Nishiki. 

He wasn't wearing his mask and he looked pale. Tired. He was wearing glasses, which he hadn't been before, and this caused some emotion to pull almost violently at Haise's chest as he moved forward. 

“Ghoul investigator,” Nishiki said. He sounded exhausted. “I'm impressed that someone so useless could get so far. You can't even make a decent cup of coffee. How do they expect you to lead a team and kill ghouls?” 

“Why would you let me find you?” Haise asked, struggling to keep his voice under control. 

Nishiki shrugged. “You looked rough. And you'd never find me if I didn't allow it.” A smirk, a bit arrogant. 

“Who do you think I am?” Haise asked. 

Nishiki raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?” 

“Haise Sasaki, ghoul investigator. Half-ghoul,” Haise shrugged. He felt like he was reciting lines. “All I know is that I don't know my past. I was taken in to the CCG, made leader of a new division of investigators--” 

“Experiments,” Nishiki muttered. 

“--and the first thing—the only thing—that gave me any sort of hint at my past was you,” Haise finished. Looking too closely at Nishiki's face hurt, made his head feel like it was going to burst, so he looked at the floor. 

“Hmm.” 

“Before,” Haise said, “have I injured you before?” 

“Yeah,” Nishiki said. “Same injury, basically.” 

Haise chanced a look at Nishiki. Nishiki was studying him. “You lose control when you remember?” 

“Yes,” Haise said. “What happened to me?” 

“I don't hate you that much,” Nishiki said. 

“Who am I to you?” 

Nishiki pushed himself away from the wall and kneeled closer to Haise. “Do you really want to know? You're happy now, aren't you? That's more than the rest of us have.” He sounded bitter. 

Haise was about to answer, but his phone rang. He looked at the screen. Akira. 

“Pick it up,” Nishiki prompted. 

Haise picked it up. 

“Where are you?” Akira's voice was loud in his ear. “I saw you accessed the database earlier and then you disappear for hours. I told you to call off the search for Serpent.” 

“I know, I'm--” 

Nishiki grabbed the phone. “The search for Serpent is over.” Then he threw it across the room, Akira's voice becoming background noise. 

Haise stared at him. “What are you doing? You'll get captured.” 

“Let's be honest, you're much more useful now then you were before,” Nishiki said. “As long as they don't kill me, I have plenty of information to give. I've been making myself useful, too.” 

“But--” 

“Are you so stupid, Kaneki?” Nishiki snapped. “You're happy when you're not remembering. You don't know what you've lost. Actually, you haven't lost anything. I'm doing you a favor.” 

“Kaneki,” Haise repeated. 

Nishiki groaned. “Sasaki, whatever you're calling yourself. Did you hear that woman? You'll lose your job. At least you have something to show for your stupidity. If you're not an investigator, they'll kill you.” 

Haise's eyes widened. That wasn't public knowledge. “How do you know that?” 

Nishiki shrugged. “They kill all ghouls who aren't useful. Doesn't matter who.”

“And you want me alive?” 

Nishiki moved back against the wall. “You're going to have to injure me.” 

Haise fingered his quinque. “Won't the guy outside fight back?” 

“Oh, he left. Hurry up. We don't have long.” 

Haise glanced around the make-shift room. The phone lay discarded on the other side, glowing in the dark. The books that surrounded the mattress gave him pause. “You like to read,” he said. “You were a student at Kamii University.” 

He looked back at Nishiki just in time to see him force the surprised look off his face. “I might even be smart, too,” he said. “Get on with it.” 

Haise activated the quinque. “I'm sorry.” 

Nishiki laughed. “The second time we met, I tried to kill you.” 

“I thought you weren't going to tell me anything else?” 

“Well, you won't stab me already, so now I'm giving you a reason.” 

Haise hesitated. He didn't know who Nishiki was to him, other than someone he knew once. He still had time. He could regain his memories, even if they caused him pain. He could leave the CCG and figure out himself, and if he lost control, he wouldn't be among investigators who would kill him. 

But he didn't know his past. And he was happy now. There was something dark and cruel in the back of his mind that wanted out. And it was this that made him raise his weapon, and impale Nishiki through the stomach. 

Nishiki choked on blood and the entrance to the storage container burst open, investigators pouring in, and Haise told the nearest person something about how Serpent had information, and someone else was dragging him out, along with Nishiki. 

“That was a stupid thing you did, going out alone,” Akira said, appearing next to him once they were outside. 

“He has lots of information,” Haise said, his voice sounding far way. “I want to do the best I can and no one was more qualified for this than me.” 

Akira gave him a long look, then nodded and walked away. 

It was a long ride back. 

*

He wasn't gone. 

Like the dark cold thing in Haise's head, Nishiki was always nearby, impossible to forget. He'd stay near until he stopped being useful, and then he'd be dead. 

Haise could visit him, if he wanted. Could find out everything he needed. All of it was sitting in a cell, waiting. 

When Nishiki saw him, he saw a man named Kaneki. And that was something Haise couldn't forget.


End file.
